In preparation for the upcoming legislative session, NARO-Texas is looking for good examples of the “royalty lease scam” being perpetrated these days. This involves approaching someone with an active lease and producing well, usually elderly, and presenting what looks to be an oil and gas lease. In return for a lump sum payment, the document is actually selling 75% of the royalty stream in the lease. The document is usually presented as a top lease. If you know of anyone who this has happened to, please contact Wade Caldwell at [email protected]. NARO-Texas is working on a legislative solution to stop these scams.
IMPORTANT UPDATE ON HB 3838 – ROYALTY LEASE SCAM BILL
The Texas House Energy resources Committee had a hearing on the bill yesterday, and it went well. Committee members seemed sympathetic to stopping this scam, and there were no witnesses that spoke against the bill. NARO and TIPRO spoke in favor of the bill, and TLMA registered support.
Of course, it is not the public speakers we have to worry about, it is the people going through back channels. We need to get this bill out of committee and on the House Floor ASAP, so we can also get it through the Senate.
The major issue at this point is that TexOGA has a competing version of the bill they want to push which has some unacceptable limitations, which made the old law, Sec. 5.151 of the Texas Property Code, ineffective.
We are asking EVERY Texas NARO member, or if you want to see this scam stopped, to call, email, write, or visit the members of the Energy Resources Committee and urge them to:
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Support the current version of HB 3838 supported by NARO and the others, and not TexOGAs version;
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Vote HB 3838 out of committee.
Below are links to: a) the current committee substitute bill HB 3838; b) the members of the Energy Resources Committee with contact information; and c) talking points about why this bill is necessary. We need to get this practice stopped! Please go to and Follow the following thread, because other updates about this bill will only be posted in the NARO Group. Litigation Status Update.
The TexOGA version is too restrictive because: a) a 2 year statute of limitations is too short; b) limiting liability to the initial purchaser allows the sellers to wash liability by running it through a shell company; and c) it keeps the ridiculous limit that the law does not apply as long as they send the offer and the lease in two different envelopes.
Proposed Committee Substitute (NARO backed version)
Hi, My Grandmother and Grandfather has a scam lease in Loving County the company is still following, not sure what to do? Would you like to read the lease. It is call a Royalty Lease, hand written and has an address that is not listed in white pages? Please let me know if you would like more information? Thank you Brett Jacobs
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Brett-
If this is a royalty lease, please see my contact info through the link above and we will be glad to look it over to see if it is the same as what we were talking about.
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Hi Wade, I replied to your post with an email to you. I attached the document I am refering to? Thank you very much!
Hi Wade, we received a request to lease a well that has been capped and is currently not in production. Is this considered a top lease?
A top lease is like a back up lease, which goes into effect when an active lease expires. If your lease has expired then it is not a top lease.